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NITED STATES ATENT Orrrcn,

WILLIAM E. DOUBLEDAY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF TREATING FUR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 350,455. dated October5, 1886.

I Application filed March 2, 1886. Serial No. 193,788. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. DOUBLE- DAY, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes forTreating Fur, of which the following is a specification.

It is well known to furriers and other dealers in and manufacturers offur articles that there is a large waste of material, particularly ofcony and similar furs which have been dyed black and other colors,arising from the fact that it has hitherto been impracticable to use thesmall pieces of fur which are left after cutting the skins into thedesired shape during the manufacture of muffs, capes, cloaks, andvarious other manufactured articles.

The objectof this invention is to utilize the fur upon such clippingsand other pieces of skin as may from any cause become practicallyvalueless for manufacture into garments or other articles; and to thisend the invention consists in removing the fur from the skin andreducing it to a proper condition for subsequent treatment by felting orother manipulation, whereby it can be manufactured into articles suchas, for instance, hats-into which it enters either as the sole material,or in connection with other feltable or non-feltable fibers.

To this end I propose to treat the skin and attached fur by means of asuitable bath, hot or cold water, composed in whole or in part of anacid or an alkali, which will remove the color or change the color tosuch extent that it shall be unobjectionable. I propose, also, by meansof this bath to so destroy, weaken, or modify the structure or textureand condition of the skin as to facilitate the next operation, whichconsists in subjecting the skin and attached fur fibers to the action ofa devil operation of the devil or other separating-machine, or at leastwill not be injured to such an extent as to interfere seriously withtheir availability or value for use in subsequent manufacture.

I do not wish tobe limited to the employment'of any particularingredients in the bath above referred to, but propose to use any of 5the well-known acid or alkali, or compounds of acids or alkali, withother ingredients which will properly effect the bleaching or change ofcolor, and will at the same time so soften, rot, or disintegrate, orotherwise modify the condition of the skin that the fur fibers can beremoved therefrom without serious injury; nor do I wish to be limited tothe employment of a devil for separating the fur fibers from the skin,because I may substitute therefor any of the various well-known pickerswhich may be found adapted for that purpose; or, under somecircumstances, I propose to'subject the material to the action ofcrushing or reducing rollers afterit has been removed from I the bathand before it is subjected to the action of the devil or picker.

My experience proves the possibility of separating the skin and fur fromeach other by simply boiling the same in water, and afterward pouringoff the water and the skin which is held in solution, together with suchcoloring-matter as has been extracted from the fur by the process'ofboiling.

The fur, after drying, will be found in suitable condition for thepicker or other similar machine, whether it is desired to mix it withother material before use or to use it separately.

I further propose to subject the mass, after the bath, to pot-carroting,so called, when it will frequently be found that the product will be inproper condition for being either mixed with other materialsuch as woolor other fiberor for being fed to an ordinary 9o picker, blower, orother machinery for form-' ing a bat or a hat.

What I claim isg 1. As an improvement in the art of treating fur,firstsubjecting the skin and adhering fur fibers to the action of abath, and subsequently detaching the fur fibers from the skin,substantially as set forth.

2. As an improvement in the art of treating fur, first subjecting theskinand adhering roo fur fibers to the action of a bath, which changesthe color of the fur fibers and changes the texture of the skin, andsubsequently subjecting the material to the action of a machine, whichfurther reduces the skin to small fragments In testimony whereof I affixmy signature and detaches the fur fibers therefrom, subin presence oftwo Witnesses. stantially as set forth.

3. The process of removing the skin from WILLIAM E. DOUBLEDAY. 5 the forby subjecting them to the action of hot water, and then separating thewater, with WVitnesses: skin in solution, from the for, substantially asJ AMES 0. BALDWIN, set forth. Gno. GREGORY.

